Chapter IX: Baking (3)

Parboil the fish, cut it into small pieces, put a layer into {130}a potting can, or deep tin dish, sprinkle salt, pepper, cayenne and pounded mace over, then a layer of the spawn and coral, then a layer of the meat, and so on, till all is in, press it down, pour melted butter over, and put it half an hour in a slow oven. Let it then get cold, take off the butter, take out the meat and pack it into small pots; clarify the butter, and pour over. The butter left may turn to account in sauces, as it will be highly flavoured. If for sandwiches, the meat must be pounded in a mortar before it is baked, that it may spread more easily.

_Prawns, Shrimps, and Cray Fish to Pot._

Boil them in salt and water, pick them carefully, then pound in a mortar, with, to 1 lb. fish, a salt-spoonful of mace, the same of allspice, half the quantity of salt and cayenne, the ¼ of a nutmeg grated, and butter to make it a thick paste. Put into pots, pour clarified butter over, and tie it down close.

_Prawns and Shrimps to Butter._

Take them out of their shells, and warm them in gravy, with a bit of butter rolled in flour, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Simmer it a little, stir all the time, and serve with toasted sippets.

_Prawns or Cray Fish in Jelly._

Make a good calf's-feet or cow-heel jelly, and boil in it some trimmings of cod, turbot, and skate, a little horse-radish, lemon peel, an onion, a piece of pounded mace, grated nutmeg and grated tongue, hung beef, or ham. Boil it well, strain, and let it get cold. Take off the fat, pour the jelly from the sediment, and boil it up with 2 glasses of white wine, and the whites of 4 eggs whisked to a froth. Do not stir this as it boils. When done, let it stand a quarter of an hour to settle; then pass it through a jelly bag: pour some of it into a mould, or deep dish, to become firm; then stick in the fish, neatly picked, in any form you like, and fill up the dish with jelly. When quite cold, turn it out.

_Fish Cake._

Pick the fish from the bones, add 1 lb. of mashed {131}potatoes to 2 lbs. fish, a little white pepper, mace, cayenne, and lemon peel; flavour either with essence of anchovy, of lobster, of shrimp, or of oyster, according to taste and the sort of fish; add Harvey's or Camp or Gloucester sauce, also lemon pickle and eschalot vinegar, to your taste: mix the whole with a little melted butter and an egg, dip in bread-crumbs, and fry of a light brown. Use no salt with the above sauces.--_Another_: Having some cold boiled fish, add to it the third of its weight in bread-crumbs, a little butter beaten with a spoon, a small onion, parboiled and minced fine, pepper, salt, and the whites of 2 eggs to bind; mixed well together, make it in the form of a thick cake, and fry on both sides of a light brown: stew it in good gravy, made from either meat or fish stock, and flavoured with onion, pepper, and salt. Thicken the sauce, and add mushroom catsup.

_Fish to Pull._

When cold, pick the fish clean from the bones, and to 1 lb. add two table-spoonsful of anchovy, two of lemon pickle, one of Harvey's, one of Camp sauce, one of chili vinegar, a little cayenne, white pepper, and mace; when nearly hot, add a piece of butter rolled in flour to thicken it, then make it quite hot, put it in a dish, grate bread-crumbs over, and baste with melted butter, to moisten them, then brown with a salamander, or in a Dutch oven, or on a tin before the fire, with a Scotch bonnet behind it.--_Or_: Pick from the bones, in flakes, any cold or boiled fish, salmon, cod, turbot, sole, skate or pike; and to 1 lb. fish, add ½ pint of cream, or ¼ lb. of butter, a table-spoonful of mustard, the same of essence of anchovy, mushroom catsup, any flavouring sauce you like, salt and pepper; heat it in a saucepan, put it into a hot dish, strew crumbs of bread over, moisten the top with thin melted butter, and brown in a Dutch oven.

_A Salmagundi._

Wash and cut open, then take out the meat from the bones of two large herrings, mince the fish with cold chicken, two hard-boiled eggs, one onion, a boned anchovy, and a little grated ham, season with cayenne, vinegar, and oil, salt, if necessary; and serve the mince, garnished with {132}heaps of chopped boiled egg, parsley and pickles, also spun butter.

_Oysters to Stew._

Choose plump natives, beard and stew two dozen in their own liquor, till just coming to a boil; take them out and lay them in a dish, whilst you strain the liquor into a saucepan; add a little piece of butter rubbed in flour, a blade of mace, a few peppercorns, lemon peel, three table-spoonsful of cream, and a little cayenne. Lay the oysters in, cover the saucepan, and let them simmer five minutes, very gently. Have toasted sippets in a deep dish, take out the oysters when done with a silver spoon, lay them in and pour the gravy over.--The French strew grated parmesan over the oysters, before the sauce. _Oysters to Grill._--Toss them in a stew-pan in a little of their own liquor, a piece of butter, and a little chopped parsley, but do not let them boil. Clean their own shells, lay an oyster in each, and some little bits of butter. Put the shells on the gridiron, in two minutes they will be done. _Oysters to Brown._--Open carefully, lift them out of their liquor, and dip each one in yolk of egg, beaten up with flour, pepper and salt, then brown them in a frying-pan, with a piece of butter; take them out, pour the liquor into the pan, thicken with a piece of butter rolled in flour, add a little catsup, minced lemon peel, and parsley, let it boil up, put in the oysters, and stir them in it a few minutes. Serve on toasted sippets. _Oysters to Fry._--Make a batter of three or four eggs, a table-spoonful of flour, a tea-spoonful of salt, and the ¼ of one of cayenne, also a very little mace. Cover the oysters well with this, and fry in boiling lard of a light brown; then grate toasted or brown bread over them, and put before the fire for three minutes in a Dutch oven. _Oysters or Cockles to Scallop._--Stew the oysters in their own gravy. Have ready some bread-crumbs, put a layer into the scallop shells, or dish, moisten with the oyster liquor, and put some little bits of butter, then a layer of oysters, then of crumbs, till the shell is full; a light sprinkling of salt, pepper, and cayenne; let bread-crumbs be at the top, and lay on some little bits of butter. Brown before the fire in a Dutch oven. _Cold fish_ may be re-cooked in this way for supper or luncheon. _Oysters in Dean Swift's way._--Wash the shells {133}clean, and put the oysters, unopened, into an earthen pot, with their hollow sides downwards; set the pot, covered, in a kettle of water, and make that boil. Do not let the water get into the shells; three or four minutes will cook the oysters.

_Oysters to Keep._

Wash them clean, lay them, bottom downwards, into a tub, and cover them with strong salt and water, in the proportion of a large handful of salt to a pail of water. Some persons sprinkle them with flour or oatmeal; this fattens them, but does not always improve the flavour.

See in the Index for _Curry of Fish_.